My career in a nutshell:I grew up in Spokane, Washington and graduated in 2011 from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN where I double majored in Biology and Chemistry. At St. Olaf, I was strongly influenced by 3 mentors - Drs. Eric Cole, Stephanie Schmidt, and John Schade. Stephanie and John led a "Discussions in Ecology" group where we discussed primary literature over dinner on Tuesday nights. I was also lucky to complete a summer REU at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Jim Cotner, and two summer research projects with Eric studying sex determination among Scaly Pearl Oysters on San Salvador Island, Bahamas.

After St. Olaf, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Michelle Evans-White at the University of Arkansas to pursue my PhD in stream ecology. In Michelle's lab, I sought to use ecological stoichiometry theory to understand how phosphorus pollution affects stream invertebrate nutrition and growth. Several papers (here, here, here, and here) have improved our understanding of how and why increased resource nutrient contents alter aquatic invertebrate nutrition and functional roles in streams. I also developed a project to study the role of animal feces in stream nutrient cycles, using funding from a National Science Foundation DDIG (paper here).

During my graduate work, I became interested in the under-appreciated role of algae in detrital-based ecosystems (paper here). Discussions with Michelle and another mentor, Thad Scott, led me to the work of Kevin Kuehn at the University of Southern Mississippi. When I was seeking employment in the last year of my PhD, Kevin was seeking a postdoc and it made a great fit. Over the last 2.5 years, Kevin, myself, and our collaborators and students have worked hard to investigate algal interactions with heterotrophic decomposers and invertebrates during plant litter decomposition, and we have a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline (here is our first!).

On the more personal side...I deeply love science, but I try to cultivate a life outside of the lab and field. I love board- and computer-based strategy gaming with friends, and I also enjoy weight lifting, running, and hiking in the woods. I sing as a tenor in a local church choir, and I weekly compete in local bar trivia on team "Ghost Butt". I am also a diehard Indie rock aficionado. I love any music with a strumming guitar (the more layered, the better). Currently on my playlist is music by Amen Dunes, Big Red Machine, and Sharon van Etten.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.